Shushi Carpet Museum

Shushi Carpet Museum
Շուշիի գորգերի թանգարան
Established	2011–2013
Location	Yerevan, Armenia
Founder	Vardan Astsatryan

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Established2011–2013 LocationYerevan, Armenia FounderVardan Astsatryan Vardan Astsatryan founded Shushi Carpet Museum (Armenian: Շուշիի գորգերի թանգարան) in 2011. It opened its doors to the public in 2013 in Shusha (Armenian: Shushi, Շուշի), Azerbaijan when it was under the control of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh.[1] Currently, 71 rugs and carpets from the Shushi Carpet Museum are on display in Yerevan in the National Museum Institute of Architecture after Alexander Tamanyan.[2] Contents 1History 2Gallery 3See also 4References History[edit source] The original collection was composed of two parts. The founding private collection included old carpets of famous Armenian carpet weavers from different villages in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The second part consisted of old Armenian carpets found and bought by Vardan Astsatryan, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey (Istanbul), and Germany.[3] Until November 1, 2020, the museum had two buildings under its supervision. A fund was established in 2011 by way of donors from the United States. In 2012, a proper building was designated for displaying the carpets given by donors from Moscow, Russia.[4] The museum had carpets on display, as well as traditional historical and cultural artifacts. These artifacts received an expert evaluation, underwent restoration, and then were put on display. Until the end of October 2020, the museum had around three hundred (300) carpets and flatweaves dating from the 17th-century to the beginning of the 20th-century. The majority of the collection presented traditional Karabakh carpet-weaving and Armenian carpet-weaving styles.[5] In addition to the locally woven carpets, there were Turkoman, Afghan, and Persian rugs, carpets, and flat weaves in the museum's collection. There were also Russian cultural artifacts in the museum. During his visit to the museum in August 2013, the President of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan stated that the carpet museum plays a vital role in preserving our national traditions and values and the development of tourism.[6] On October 29, 2020, an explosion of a large rocket, amidst heavy shelling of the city of Shushi (Azerbaijani: Şuşa) by Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, damaged the museum buildings. To avoid further destruction, on November 1, 2020, the most valuable items of the collection (about 160 carpets and rugs) were evacuated to Yerevan (Armenia), while the rest of the collection comprised of nearly 100-120 carpets as well as other cultural artifacts were left in Shusha.[7] Currently, the collection is on display in the National Museum-Institute of Architecture after Alexander Tamanyan and History Museum of Armenia [8][9]

Gallery

References